KS3 Cooking Skills
What's covered
Key facts
Baking uses dry oven heat (convection of hot air around the food) and suits breads, cakes and pastries.
A balloon whisk is used to whisk cream and egg whites, incorporating air to create foam.
The UK emergency number for fire, police and ambulance is 999.
A minor burn must be cooled under cool running water for at least 10–20 minutes to remove residual heat from the skin.
A blunt knife is not safer — it needs more force and is more likely to slip and cause a deeper cut.
Dovetailing means preparing multiple tasks at the same time so the meal is ready together — for example, boiling pasta while the sauce simmers.
One litre is equal to 1000 millilitres.
Baking heats food primarily through convection currents of hot air circulating in the oven.
A colander is a perforated bowl used to drain liquid from cooked pasta or vegetables.
If clothing catches fire, you must stop, drop and roll — never run, as moving feeds oxygen to the flames.
Sample questions
A taste of the 89 questions in this topic — answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What does 'simmering' mean in cooking?
- •cooking food in fat at very high temperatures
- •cooking food slowly in steam without using liquid
- •heating liquid to a rapid, rolling boil
- ✓heating liquid to just below boiling point so it bubbles gently
What is a colander used for?
- ✓draining liquid from cooked pasta or vegetables
- •measuring the exact weight of ingredients before cooking
- •scraping and folding delicate mixtures without losing air
- •sifting flour to remove lumps before adding to a recipe
What should you use to put out a fat pan fire?
- ✓Fire blanket — smother to cut off oxygen
- •Flour — throws a cloud over the fire to extinguish it
- •Water — pour quickly to cool the flames
- •Wet cloth — damp fabric smothers the fire safely
What should you use when removing hot dishes from the oven?
- •a damp cloth
- ✓dry oven gloves
- •plastic tongs
- •wet oven gloves
What does the bridge hold involve?
- •all fingers lie flat on top of the food being cut
- ✓fingers arch over food while thumb and fingertip grip the sides
- •fingertips curl under while the palm presses flat on food
- •the knife is held in both hands with food on a board
What does 'dovetailing' mean when following a recipe?
- •checking each ingredient is measured before beginning a new step
- •following a recipe in strict order without changing anything
- ✓preparing multiple tasks at the same time to save time
- •writing out all recipe steps before starting to cook
Try it for four weeks. Free.
One school. Unlimited classes. No card limit. No teacher limit. If your students aren't practising daily by the end of the trial, you owe us nothing.